Lisa Spoonauer Dies: ‘Clerks’ Actress Was 44

Lisa Spoonauer, who starred in Kevin Smith’s 1994 cult classic Clerks, died Saturday at her home in Rahway, New Jersey. She was 44. Her family announced her death in an obituary posted on the George S. Hassler Funeral Home website. A cause was not revealed.

Clerks turned out to be the first of two films in which Spoonauer would appear. After Clerks she had a role in 1997’s Bartender.

Smith posted a remembrance of Spoonauer on Instagram in which he recalled meeting her in 1992 while visiting an acting class at Brookdale Community College. (See below).

“Lisa was easily the most natural and authentic voice in the room,” Smith wrote.”She didn’t sound like she was acting at all; she delivered scripted dialogue as if she was inventing her conversation in the moment, like people do in real life.” He offered her the role of Caitlin Bree and she joined the production.

In the movie, centered around a local convenience store and video rental shop, Spoonauer’s Caitlin gets back together with her high school boyfriend, Dante Hicks, played by Brian O’Halloran.

After the film Bartender, Spoonauer went on to become a restaurant manager and event planner, according to her obituary.